AYSO Region 109 Referee Coordinator Checklist

Thank you for volunteering to be a referee coordinator!

Referee coordinators provide an essential link between the AYSO Region administrators and volunteer referees. This page gives a brief checklist to help you do your job.

The job of the referee coordinator is to communicate with and schedule referees in preparation for and during the AYSO season. The preparation section below describes important information we need to get to our referees, and information we need to get back from them.

We want our ref coordinators to work with the Division Commissioners and Coaches to recruit and schedule sufficient referees to man the field each week. In the younger age groups (U7-U8), each team brings a referee to the field. Thus, it is very important that each team have at least two referees. In the older age groups (U12+), referee coordinators draw up schedules in advance, assigning referees to games. The U9 and U10 age groups can go either way.

Finally, referee coordinators play an important role in improving the quality of refereeing in our Region. We'll say more about this below.

Preparation

You will be given a list of referees to contact within for a specific AYSO age division. For each referee:

• Establish contact. You can use email, but often it makes sense to use the telephone, at least initially.
• It's really important that we have accurate information concerning our volunteers. Please check that we have the right telephone number, address, and electronic mail address for each ref. Obtain an email address where we have none if possible.
• Many refs have kids in multiple age groups. Please make sure that each of your volunteers plans to ref in your assigned age group, and note whether he or she plans to help out in another age group as well.
• Our records are incomplete with respect to the level of referee certification folks have achieved. Try to determine whether or not each ref has earned a "Regional Referee Badge" in previous years, and how many years of experience hr or she has in refereeing.
• Inform all refs about the Referee Clinics we plan to hold in Menlo Park and the Referee Mentoring program. In addition, we maintain a Question and Answer Forum.
• We would like to keep track of what equipment our refs have. Try to determine whether refs have uniforms (jersey, shorts, socks) in good condition. If not, please determine what needs to be replaced and in what size. For refs in U9 and older, we'd like to know who has and who needs a set of linesman's flags. If you can get an idea of who is likely to attend our clinics, we'd appreciate it.
• Try to determine when each referee is likely to be available during the season. This will help you build your ref schedule.

In the U7 and U8 age groups, each team is responsible for bringing a referee to the game. The teams are split up into two short-sided games. One referee runs each game. If a team cannot supply a referee for a given date, he can ask the referee coordinator to help find a substitute. Obviously, we need at least one, and if possible two referees per team to make this work. If your division doesn't have enough referees, please contact your Division Commissioner, or perhaps contact the coaches directly. We need to recruit more refs while there is still time to train them. At this level, refereeing is EASY!

At the U9 and U10 level, we move to larger teams and the full Laws. At this level and above, we employ the diagonal system of control. This requires a Center Referee and 2 Assistants. We realize that there might not always be 3 referees present for every game. If assistants are lacking, the Center Referee should appoint club linesmen.

With the U9 and U10 age groups, we encourage referee coordinators to assign referees to games as for the older age groups. However, coordinators can choose to use the team supplies method as for the younger age groups. In this case, it is crucial that teams have a least two refs per team.

At the U12 age group and older, referee coordinators should build a schedule prior to the season, assigning referees to specific matches. When forming a schedule, you should take the following guidelines into account:

• The Center Referee should have at least a Regional Badge.
• The Center Referee should have no kids playing.
• There should be a Center Referee and 2 Assistant Referees assigned per game.

These are guidelines, not rules. Follow them if you can. Note that these guidelines are especially important at U14 and above. Experience has shown that it is often convenient to schedule referees for 2-game shifts: one in Center and one as AR. It is important that referees at the older divisions become accustomed to refereeing games where their children are not playing. They will not want to do this at first, but you can point out that this often means working only every other week.

Once a schedule is established, make it clear to your referees that THEY are responsible for finding a replacement for matches they cannot attend. You might want to distribute a full list of referees within the division along with the schedule, plus any possible alternates from other divisions.

Again, if your division doesn't have enough refs to build a viable schedule, please contact your Division Commissioner and Coaches. They can canvas team parents for possible extra volunteers. Hold their feet to the fire ... we need an adequate number of referees to make the season run smoothly. Stress that previous referee experience isn't required. We will train new volunteers. If that doesn't help, please contact our region's referee administrators.

Improving Our Refereeing

Our region provides a number of tools to help our volunteers learn how to improve their refereeing. We offer clinics, a mentoring program, reference materials, and access to a full range of higher-level referee classes held within our AYSO Area and Section. However, these tools are not useful if our refs don't know about them. As ref coordinators, you are charged with putting these tools into the hands of our volunteer refs.

Are you an experienced referee as well as a coordinator, or do you know someone who is? If so, perhaps you would consider holding a meeting amongst the referees in your division to get to know each other, go over recent changes to the Laws, and help less experienced refs fit into the flow of things.

On the sideline, be an advocate for referees. It often helps to remind people that referees are amateurs and volunteers, just like everyone else who makes AYSO work. Recruit on the field. Talk to that parent who just acted as club linesman: "You're pretty good at that, why don't you get training to become a certified referee".

Finally, we need your feedback. If you can think of ways we can improve our program, please let us know. Sending us email is the easiest way to contact us.

HAVE A GREAT SOCCER SEASON!